Broken Dreams

by Rissa Blakeley

  “The blood. We can collect some for Nick. He needs to have some…before things go awry.”

  “Go awry? I do believe we are already past that point,” Sophie grumbled as she headed for the cups.

  “This won’t hurt her?” Claire asked with great worry.

  “No. Do you think I would hurt her?” Claire lifted her eyebrow. “Fuck me. Physically, do you think I would harm her?”

  “No, probably not. I would hope not.” She was concerned. Henry held the cup Sophie handed him under the small gash on Elaina’s head.

  “Just let me get about a vial’s worth, then I will take her out and stitch up her head.” Claire was nervous, watching everything unfold. She worried that Elaina was seriously injured.

  Nick’s joints and muscles were becoming stiffer by the second. He growled as the blaring headache started kicking in. Claire looked up at him. She recognized the symptoms. He looked just like Henry when he was struggling with his pain.

  “Here, mate. Drink up.” Henry handed him the cup. Nick looked at the contents, and swirled the blood around the cup. “Drink it! Trust me, you will feel better.” Henry tucked his bloodied t-shirt behind Elaina’s head.

  Nick tossed back what little blood there was in the cup. “Fuuuck…,” he moaned. He started rolling his neck. His face was changing from a pained expression to more of a relaxed state. He looked over at Claire, and he felt a rush of erotic desire when their eyes met. He felt a stirring in his jeans. Then he exhaled loudly, and shook off all of his thoughts and feelings for the moment. Slowly, his joints and muscles freed up. Then his focus turned to Elaina when she moaned.

  “I think she’s waking up,” Claire said.

  ***

  I began to come to. My head was pounding, and all I could see were emeralds sparkling in front of me. Beautiful green sparkly emeralds…Wait a second. It was Henry, Sophie, and Nick. I gasped and weakly pushed myself back to get away from them.

  “Elaina. Elaina, my love. Please, take it easy.” His voice echoed in my head. “You hit your head.”

  My vision became somewhat clearer. “Henry?” I rasped.

  “I’m right here, love.”

  “Are you going to bite me?”

  “No, I won’t.” I was still frightened, and struggled some to get away from him.

  “Please, you have a small gash on your head.” I was shivering under all the cool breath that was coming at me. Then I saw Claire. She had real eyes. Bright blue eyes.

  “Claire?”

  “Oh, honey.” She looked so sad. Her eyes were wet with tears. “It’s going to be okay. We’re going to get you fixed up.”

  “What hap…happened?”

  “You passed out and when you fell, you hit your head on the counter.” I wanted to go back to sleep. I felt my eyelids closing. “Elaina, stay with me. You have to tell me what else you are feeling.” I forced my eyes open.

  “My head. It h-hurts. Headache.” The pain was almost blinding. I tried to reach up to the spot.

  “No, honey, save your energy.”

  “Will she be okay?” I heard Nick’s voice in the distance, echoing in my head. I looked around, trying to find him.

  “Nick…” I whispered.

  “I’m right here, sis.” I saw him kneeling down next to me. Maybe it was all a nightmare. I saw that his eyes were still emerald green, and I was confused.

  Henry said, “Let’s just get you to the truck and then, after you rest, we will talk more about it.”

  “Okay,” I whispered. “Water, please?”

  “Sophie, run out and get Elaina some water, please, before we move her.” I heard the familiar clicking of her heels go past me. It was almost a comforting sound to me because it was something I knew.

  A minute later, Claire raised my head a little, and I took a few sips of water. I felt myself drifting. “Is there anything else you can feel or not feel?”

  “Sleep,” I murmured, and drifted back off.

  ***

  “Now what?” Claire asked in a mild panic.

  “Let’s get her into the truck. We can fold the seats down and try to keep her comfortable while we medically attend to her.” Henry reached down and scooped Elaina up.

  Just as he took one step toward the door, they heard the unmistakable sound of a shotgun pump. They all stopped dead in their tracks. Henry turned his head, still holding Elaina firmly in front of him, only to see the little punk ass kid pointing a shotgun at everyone. “No one is goin’ nowhere!”

  “Listen, kid…” Henry started. He realized he must have had some shells stashed away in his pockets. He cursed at himself for not checking. After he had tied him up in the back room, the kid showed him that his gun was empty and laughed. Henry wasn’t amused.

  “I ain’t no, kid!”

  “Okay, mate. Listen, we need to get her in a safe zone so we can clean her up and stitch her if need be.”

  “I ain’t lettin’ you undeads, or whatever the fuck you are, leave!”

  “We need to tend to her medically. Let us at least take her to the truck.” Sophie started to maneuver her way around behind him, while Henry held his attention. They worked well together because they were so in sync.

  “What about my deal? I was supposed to get some supplies in exchange for not shootin’ you.” Sophie grabbed his neck from behind, and shoved him onto the cold hard floor with her knee jammed in his back.

  “ARRRG! Get off of me, you whore!” She jammed her knee into him further. His protruding spine began to sway beneath her weight.

  “Now it’s my turn,” she growled. The kid continued to struggle underneath her. “You listen to me, and you listen carefully. Understand?” There was no response except a little struggle from him.

  Henry, Nick, and Claire had taken off to head to the truck. Before she left the store, Claire turned around when she heard all the commotion. “She has got him handled. Let’s go. We need to get Elaina fixed up.” They hurried out the door.

  “Do you understand me?!” Sophie screamed in his ear.

  “Yes! Yes!” The kid choked out.

  “We are in charge. You will do as we say, or you’ll end up like us because I surely could go for a fix right about now. You got that?! I said, do you have it?!”

  “Yes!” The kid coughed and squirmed as much as he could. “Please, please get off me.” He coughed again. Sophie searched him all over. He had a couple shanks in his back pocket, and bullets in his front. She also found what looked to be a school ID.

  “Oh, what’s this?”

  “Please!” She still had her knee crammed into his back.

  “Tsk, tsk, tsk. Oh, you really aren’t photogenic are you, Thomas Anderson.” Sophie giggled. She couldn’t help herself. “Is that your name, Thomas?”

  “Yes!” he yelled in pain.

  “Alright, Thomas. I’m Sophie, and I will be your worst fucking nightmare if you do not follow orders. Now, I’ll be taking this, thank you very much.” She grabbed the shotgun from his hand. “When I let you up, you will walk calmly outside those doors, and wait patiently for your supplies and further instructions. You will not argue, fuss, or threaten any one of us, or you will find yourself true dead. Hmm…maybe we could tap you first. What are you? B positive? O negative?”

  The taunting broke Thomas. “Alrigh’, alrigh’! I will do wha’ever you say, just don’ eat me, please!” He was so scared that he whimpered the whole way out to the truck. Sophie kept pushing him with the business end of the shotgun to spur him to move faster.

  “Claire, gather up some food for little Thomas here so we can go. And, for the love of god, shut the hell up!” She was tired of his whimpering so she swatted him in the back of the head. Thomas recoiled and held up his thin arms around his head, hoping she wasn’t going to bite him. Not that he could have stopped her if she wanted to. Claire was a little taken aback when Sophie swatted Thomas.

  “What do you want me to give him?”

  “Hmm… What are you worth?” Sophie ste
pped back and looked Thomas up and down.

  “Alright, Sophie. Enough! Think about this as if he was Samuel.” Henry spoke sternly from the cargo area of the truck. He was looking at the situation while he was stitching up Elaina’s head.

  That hit Sophie hard. She had forgotten about Anna and Samuel. She needed to stay in check over it. She didn’t want to give anything away.

  “He is just a boy. You remember what it was like for us when we were that age?” Sophie backed off some. She looked humiliated. “Claire, grab him a few packages of food and about six bottles of water.”

  Claire did as instructed. She was scared of what would happen if she didn’t comply with the orders. She also wanted to find out who Samuel was, but she dared not cross anyone at that point. The air was thick with frustration and anger.

  Henry finished stitching Elaina’s head. He rummaged through the supply box in his truck and pulled out a t-shirt to put on. He helped Nick position her so he could pull down the liftgate. After that, Henry walked up to Claire and Thomas.

  “She should be fine. Nick’s tending to her now that the bleeding has ceased. She’s just passed out right now. She may end up with a concussion, though.” Claire nodded with relief. Henry cleared his throat, focusing on the scrawny kid that tied him up. “Now, Thomas…is that your name?” The frightened boy nodded. “Look, we aren’t going to hurt you. We aren’t like them.” Henry pointed across the way, toward the small strip mall. There were two undeads aimlessly wandering near the storefront. “I realize what you witnessed earlier but, I assure you, I will do my best to keep my composure.” Henry put his hands on his hips and looked around for a minute. “I’m going to make you an offer. I need an answer right away, though. We’re on a mission, and I would like to continue it before it gets dark. Understand?”

  “Ye…yes, sir.” Thomas’s voice was shaking.

  “I can either leave you here with those supplies, or we can take you with us.”

  “Oh, hell no,” Sophie grumbled. “We are not taking that prepubescent little shit with us!”

  Henry looked over at her with a snarl. “We are not monsters!” Henry barked. “He has zero chance out here!”

  Sophie bit back at Henry right away. “Have you forgotten so quickly? He tried to kill you!”

  “With just cause, Sophie!” Henry shouted back at her. “If I were in his shoes, I would have probably done the same. He is scared! Let’s take him with us. We can always use another pair of eyes.”

  “He could go rogue on us!”

  “Have you met us? We are rogue, darling!”

  Sophie’s fists were clenched at her sides. “Rogue from the program!” she growled.

  “He won’t hurt us.” Henry flashed his million dollar smile. “Will you, Thomas? Or we will tap him for ourselves.” It was a small yet sadistic, psychological move on Henry’s part.

  Thomas’s face went from scared to pasty white and horrified. Then he waved his waif arms in front of his gaunt body. “You have my word. I ain’t gonna hurt any of you.”

  Surprisingly, he was able to get the sentence out without a stammer. Sophie was pissed. Henry yanked her aside and got about two inches from her face. “How dare you undermine me?!” He was furious. Sophie jumped when Henry began to yell. Tears were welling up in her eyes again. “I am in charge of this group! You knew that from the moment you were instructed to bring me home! He’s going to decide his own fate. He should have that choice, unlike us!”

  Sophie looked at Henry as if he had two heads. “What about Nick?! What about his fate?! You decided that for him!” Sound the alarm. “Angry Henry” was about to make another appearance.

  “I could not help that! You know and understand what it’s like!” Henry growled, turned away from Sophie, and stalked off to his truck. He cursed out a string of obscenities and kicked the back tire. His main focus was to get Elaina somewhere safe so he could tend to her medically.

  “She ain’t gonna eat me when your back is turned, is she?”

  Henry stopped in his tracks. “No, she will not touch you unless I say so. If you decide to go with us, then you will be responsible for helping the group. You will not undermine me at all!” He looked directly at Thomas. “Do you understand me?”

  “Yes…yes, sir. I think I would like to go with you.”

  “Alright. Claire, you ride with me and keep an eye on Elaina. Nick and Thomas, ride with Sophie.” Not a sound came out of Sophie’s mouth. There was only an icy glare directed right at Henry. “Nick, keep an eye on the kid. Make sure he doesn’t try anything. If he does, enjoy.”

  “Understood.” Nick grabbed Thomas by the arm and dragged him to Sophie’s truck. “Here, eat a couple of these, you scrawny bastard, and drink some water.” Nick handed him a couple packets of snacks, along with a bottle of water that Claire pulled out.

  Within minutes, they were piled in the trucks and began their journey to Elaina and Nick’s parents’ house. The two trucks moved with purpose as they drove at a slow speed down the road. There were several vehicles, their doors and trunks open, pulled off to the side of the road. It gave Henry the impression that someone must had already looted through there.

  He tried to shake the feeling that something was off. A shiver went through his body. Claire looked at him with concern. He pressed on, though, wanting to get to their destination. He was worried about what they might find. On top of that, he was exhausted.

  Chapter 17

  H

  enry pulled into the driveway of the Cooper’s home. It was a grand Victorian set in the small, well-established village. Nick and Elaina grew up in that home. There were so many fantastic memories there for them.

  Since it was late fall, the leaves had changed to the brilliant golds, ambers, and reds, which were quietly falling to the ground, one by one.

  Henry and Sophie got out to scope out the area for any undeads. This left Thomas alone with Nick, a fresh reanimation of his former self. Thomas was jerky and nervous, and rightfully so. He was drumming his fingers on the door armrest. Nick was staring at him, watching him and studying him, getting used to the small changes in his senses. He rapidly became aggravated of Thomas’ twitchy behavior.

  “Enough!” Nick roared with clenched fists. Thomas almost came out of his skin. Nick was feeling the pain and stiffness of his new body. The blood that he had back at the store wasn’t enough. He tugged at the bloodied strip of Henry’s t-shirt that was tied around his arm. He now had a good understanding of Henry’s rages.

  The craving was becoming uncontrollable. And the anger was like an ember that never burnt out in the deepest part of his body. He couldn’t think about anything but tearing open Thomas’ neck and drinking the elixir of life.

  “Fuck!” Nick’s rage continued. He threw open the door and slammed it shut. Thomas didn’t leave the truck. He had decided it would be best if he just stayed right where he was.

  Henry and Sophie turned around, pointing their Sigs in Nick’s direction. “Christ, Nick! What the hell are you doing? Trying to get yourself killed?” Henry jogged up to him. Claire was watching the scene from Henry’s truck.

  “I can’t. I can’t do this.” Panic was settling in on top of his rage. He kept rolling his neck back and forth. He was clenching and releasing his fists, time and time again, while pacing like a maniac. He was seconds from tweaking out.

  “Listen, I know how hard it is, but we need you. You need to concentrate on the bigger picture right now.” Nick began laughing at Henry’s statement.

  Then, out of nowhere, he grabbed Henry by the throat and wrestled him to the ground. Henry easily overpowered him and rolled Nick to his stomach with his wounded arm pinned behind his back. Then Henry jammed the muzzle of his Sig into Nick’s left ear.

  Claire scrambled out of the truck, screaming. “No! No! Stop! Please, stop!” She was on her knees, begging.

  “Do it! Do it!” Nick yelled, maniacally laughing.

  “Shut it now! You’re going to attract undeads!”<
br />
  Nick laughed again. “Wake up and look around you, motherfucker. We are the undeads!”

  “You listen to me,” Henry growled, as he slammed Nick’s body further into the ground. “You are going to shut the fuck up now so we do not get overrun. We’re trying to see if your mum is here and alive!” He held him down, and Nick was growling in pain. Henry looked up at Claire. “Can we tap you?”

  “Tap me? Absolutely not!” Claire gave Henry a disgusted look, and scrambled back.

  “Claire, please. He needs some blood. If he doesn’t get it soon, he will not be able to control this rage or his drive. You guys will be in danger. Trust me. It will only get worse from here.” Nick continued to struggle. Claire stood looking at what Nick had become. “If he doesn’t get what he needs, I will have to end it. You get me?”

  “This is your fault! He wouldn’t be like this if you could control yourself! Look at him!” The tears began pouring down her face. “And it’s your fault Elaina is hurt!” That stung Henry. He knew the current predicament that they were in was his fault, but to hear Claire spit those words to him hurt on a deep level.

  “Claire, please. I know. I’m fucking sorry. You have no idea how pissed I’m with myself right now. I’m full of regret, but I can’t turn back time.” Nick was starting to wear thin beneath Henry. “He needs your help. Can you not see that?” Claire was sobbing.

  ***

  I heard the fighting, yelling, and the struggle going on outside the truck. My head was foggy, but I was able to process what was going on. I sat up, using my hands to hold myself steady. Then I saw that we were in front of my parents’ house.

  I took a deep breath, focusing on my family home standing silent in all its glory. Someone left the truck door open so I slid out unnoticed. I saw Henry had pinned down Nick, and Claire was off at a short distance away from them, crying.

  “I have no idea what the fuck is going on, but tap me if you need to.” My words were groggy, and my knees were weak. I had to hold onto the truck’s door to stay upright because I felt every rotation of the earth. Claire spun around when she heard me speak.